You know, it seems like this time of year, it’s maybe time to ask the question, much more intently, When is enough enough?
Maybe it’s time to use a little bit of Creative Deprivation, as it’s called in the industry, and ask ourselves a few questions as far as our children and even in our own lives. The time for us may be to delay some gratification, maybe deprive ourselves a little bit because we are not appreciating what we do have.
So a couple of questions that I think are important for us to consider: Are we spending a disproportionate amount of family money or income in any one category such as clothing, or entertainment, or child-enrichment kinds of activities?
Another question that I think that goes along with that is, Are we spending a disproportionate amount of time and energy in any one or two activities such as screen time, or on cell phones with social media, or sports and other kinds of activities?
So I think as we look at some of the literature that’s out there, either from Amy Sullivan who has written a book When More is Not Enough and also with The Intentional Family by William Doherty, we can see that we might be overscheduled, we might be overspending, for the sake of what is considered a satisfaction scale. You don’t always have to have the next, biggest, newest thing to be happy. To be successful.
